Container with flanged cover



July 14, 1970 R c ETAL 3,520,467

CONTAINER WITH FLANGED COVER Filed Oct. 28, 1968 United States Patent ice ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A container of relatively thick, foldable paperboard is formed with side walls, end walls, a bottom, and a cover, the cover having a top panel portion and a depending flange portion separated from one another by a fold line located adjacent one edge of the cover. The flange portion is positioned at a predetermined angle with the panel portion. Tab means extend between the portions in an underlying relationship with the fold line for retaining the flange portion at a predetermined angle with the panel portion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 7 Field of the invention This invention relates to a container made of relatively thick, foldable paperboard and, more particularly, to a container having a cover flange which is retained at a desiredangular relationship with the remainder of the cover without the use of additional material.

The prior art Containers having flanged covers are known in the art and are used in the present packaging industry. Usually, the covers of the present day containers have a top panel and a flange which must be retained at a certain angle with respect to the top panel to properly close the container by preventing interference between the lower edge of the flange of one cover panel with either a flange on the second cover panel, where cover has two panels, or with a side wall of container, where a single panel cover is used. Heretofore, difficulties have been experienced in providing a flange which could retain an angular relationship with the top panel of the cover. Various means had been utilized to solve this problem, the means including reintorcement of the flange by making it thicker than the reimainder of the cover, or .by using metal reinforcement, or the like, to retain the angular relationship required. All of these attempts have resulted in the use of additional material and labor increasing the cost of the container.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the disadvantages known in the prior art by providing a flanged container cover wherein th flange is retained at a desired angle to effect proper closing of the container without utilization of any additional material. Generally the cover of a paperboard container is formed with a top panel and a flange depending therefrom which flange must be retained within the container to keep the cover closed. Effective means for eflecting the closing and retaining the flange within the container is provided by the present invention whereby a predetermined angular relationship is maintained between the flange and the top panel of the cover to effect closing and prevent accidental withdrawal of the flange from the interior of the container. The angular relationship between the flange and the panel is maintained by tabs formed from material removed from the cover.

Great savings are realized in cost of material and labor by utilizing the material removed from the cover to form 3,520,467 Patented July 14, 1970 the tabs as compared with the prior use of additional matenals to retain the desired angular relationship between the flange and the top panel of the cover.

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the container of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a part of the cover of the container representing one embodiment of the present rnventlon;

FIG. 2A is a detailed view of the flange portion of the cover in FIG. 2;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken generally along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a part of the cover of the container representing another embodiment of the present mvention;

, FIG. 4A is a detailed view of the flange portion of the cover shown in FIG. 4; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken generally along the line 55 of FIG. 4A.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there are shown in the drawing and will herein be described in detail, embodiments of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiments illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

\ Referring now to the d awing, a container formed from foldable paperboard is shown in FIG. 1 and is generally designated 10. The container has side walls 11, end walls 12 and a bottom 13 which are interconnected with one another in the customary manner. The end walls 12, only one of which is shown in the drawing, are formed with hand-inserting openings 14 to assist the user in carrying the container. The container of this type may have a cover formed of one section or, as is shown in the illustrative embodiment, a two-sectional cover 15. Since for the purposes of this invention, the two sections of the cover 15 may be considered as being identical in construction and function, a detailed description of only one section of the cover will be made herein.

The cover 15 is hinged to the upper edge of the side wall 11 along a hinge line 16 and is formed with a top panel portion 17 and a depending flange portion 18 separated from each other by a longitudinal fold line 20 located inwardly adjacent that edge of the cover which is opposite to the edge at which the cover is hinged to the side Wall 11.

To effect closing of the cover and to retain it in closed position, the flange portion 18 must be maintained at a predetermined angle with the top panel portion. If the angular relationship between the portions is substantially or more, the flange portion will interfere with a flange portion on the other cover panel and present difliculties in closing the cover.

To effect interference-free closing, the flange portion 18 is retained at a required predetermined angle, which is normally less than 90, with the top panel portion 17. For this purpose, a tab 24 is formed from material removed from the panel portion 17 and hinged at one of its ends to the top panel portion along a hinge line 25. As best seen in FIG. 3, the tab 24 is pushed downwardly and is positioned in any underlying relationship to the fold line 20. A free, or other, end of the tab 24 is secured to the flange portion 18, as indicated at 26. The downward positioning of the tab 24 leaves small aperture 27 in the panel portion 17 and in the flange portion 18, as best seen in FIG. 1. Thus, the tab 24, having one of its ends hinged at the hinge line 25 to the top panel portion 17 while its other end is secured to the inner surface of 3 the flange portion 18, retains the flange portion at a desired angle with respect to the panel portion of the cover.

Referring now to FIGS. 4, 4A and 5, there is shown another embodiment of thepresent invention. While all details of this embodiment are substantially identical and similar with the details shown in theprior embodiment heretofore described, the difference in the-two embodiments exists in the provision of angle retaining tabs.

As best seen in FIG. 5, a first tab 30 is formed from material removed from the top panel portion 17 and hinged thereto at one of its ends at a hinge line 31. While the tab 30 is hinged to the panel portion 17, a second tab 32 is formed from the material removed from the flange the line 33. The respective free, or other, ends of the tabs 30 and 32 are secured to eachother, as indicated at 34, by suitable means well known in the art. Thus, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the angular relationship between the flange portion 18 and the top panel portion 17 is maintained by securing the first tab 30 and the second tab 32 to each other.

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and the interior of the end wall 12 has a locking indentation 35 which retains the portion 18 and hinged thereto at one of its ends along tip of the flange portion 18 within the container when the cover is closed and acts as additional means in preventing accidental opening of the cover.

We claim:

1. A container formed from relatively thick, foldable (c) said cover having a top panel portion and a de- 1 pending flange portion separated by a longitudinal fold line located inwardly adjacent the opposite edge of said cover;

(d) said flange portion being positioned at a predetermined angle with said panel portion;

(e) at least one tab formed from material removed from at least one of said portions and extending between said portions in an underlying relationship with said fold line for retaining said flange portion at said predetermined angle; 2. A container as defined in claim 1, wherein a tab is struck from and hinged along one end thereof to said panel portion and has the opposite end thereof secured to said flange portion.

3. A container formed from relatively thick, foldable paperboard, comprising:

(a) side walls, end walls and a bottom; (b) at least one cover hinged along one edge to the upper edgeof aside wall and extending across the top ofthe container; 1 V V (c) said-cover having a top panel portion and a depending flange portion separated by a longitudinal fold line locatedinwardly adjacent the opposite edge of said cover; v ((1) said flange portion being positioned at alpredeterimined angle with said panel portion; I (e) a first tab struck from and hinged along one end theerof to said panel portion and a second tab struck from and hinged along one edge thereof to said flange portion, the respective other ends of said tabs being secured to each other for retaining said flange portion at said predeterminedangle.

References Cited I UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,424,369 

